1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an electric connector used for connection of various cables, and more particularly to a low coupling force connector easily couplable with a mating connector through operation of a lever.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a connector which can be easily put and reliably maintained in a coupled condition with a mating connector, a lever-operated low coupling force connector has been proposed in Japanese Patent Application Unexamined Publication No. 2-123681, the connector being shown at X in FIG. 5, with its terminals and cable omitted for convenience' sake.
The connector X consists of a connector body a, a slider b received inside the connector body and a lever c. The slider b is provided with cam grooves e, e', e", each extending rearwardly downwardly, for engagement therein of respective cam projections d, d', d" of a mating connector Y.
The lever c is rotatable about a pivot f at its fulcrum as indicated by an arrow. The slider b has cam grooves h at its rear end, and the lever c has its point of action g engaged in the cam grooves h so that as the lever c is rotated about the pivot f in the direction indicated, the slider b moves forwardly, driving the cam projections d, d', d" downwardly along the respective cam grooves e, e', e". The mating connector Y is thus mated with the connector X, at which time their terminals are connected to each other.
This technique enables a connector to be coupled with a mating connector through simple operation of a lever, without requiring a large force, and is advantageously applicable especially to a connector large in size and incorporating lots of terminals.
With the conventional low coupling force connector, however, because the point of action g of the lever c is located at the end of the slider b, the force with which the cam grooves e, e', e" of the slider b act on the respective cam projections d, d', d" is not uniform and becomes smaller away from the point of action g, i.e., becomes smaller in this example in the order of e, e', ee", with the result that the intended sliding of the slider b and coupling of the connectors X and Y is sometimes not attainable by simple operation of the lever c. This drawback becomes prominent especially where the slider b tends to rattle in its sliding movement or with a large-sized connector. To cope with this drawback, connectors need be made of a material carefully selected, with an improved precision of parts and/or with a slider thickened and having an improved rigidity, resulting in the connectors becoming large-sized as a whole and costly in production.